Method of fire-polishing glassware.



A. J. SANFORD. METHOD OF FIRE POLISHING GLASSWARE.

APPLICATION FILED 111N326; 1909.

Patented June '7, 1910.

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A. J. SANFORD. METHOD OF FIRE POLISHING GLAsswARE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1909.

Patented June 7, 1910.

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Patented June 7, 1910.

A. J. SANFORD. METHOD OF FIRE POLISHING GLASSWARE.

APPLICATION PILEED JUNE 26, 1909.

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. In E STATES" PATENT ornrcrggi A mnEw J. sanronn, or NEWARK, onro,'as'srenoa To A. H. HEISEY & so, me, or V NEWARK, onro, A conrom'rron or wns'r vmsmra mn'rnon or rmn-romsnme etasswaan.

. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J line 7, 1910.

' Application filed June 2 6, 1909. Serial m5. 504,552.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J SANFORD, a resident of Newark, in the county of Lick ing and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Fire- Polishing Glassware; and I do hereby de-- clare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My mve'ntion relates to the fire polishing of glassware, its object being to provide for the proper fire'polishing of both the interior and the exterior surfaces of articles of glassware, such as hollow bowls and the like, also including flat dishes with upwardly extending rim portions.

It consists, generally stated, in supporting the article within a hollow burner and projecting from the hollow burner multitudinous flame jets distributed substantially beIfire olished. t shaped articles by first projecting the flame jets upon the outer face of the same, while supported upon a suitable former conformmg in shape to the interior of the article and 1 then projecting the flame jets against the interior thereof while supporting the article in a former. conforming shape of the finished article.

It also comprises the slow rotation of the article in fire polishing the exterior thereof so asto hold the same to the former on which it is supported, and the rapid rotation of the article when fire polishin the interior thereof so as to cause it to con cm in shape to the hollow former in which it is held.

It also com rises certain other ments hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side view 0 apparatus suitable for the practice of the'invention; Fig.. 2 is a cross section on the line 22 illustrating such 'ap paratus; Fig. 3 illustrates the fire polishing of the exterior of a bowl shaped blank; Fig. 4 shows another form of burner suitable for provesuch p'u oses; Fig-'5 illustrates the fire pol.

lshing-o the interior of such blank; and Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are. likeviews illustrating the fire polishing of other shapes: Wh1le the invention may beyemfloyed with. different forms of apparatus the most desirable for the purpose and will employed an evenly'over the outer surface of the article to.

I ply plpe 9 carrym 0 includes the of bowl h top beam 7 w,

12 extends along"- the front of the mac to the desired outer.

supporting shaft 16 which passa up have found that illustrated in the drawings-to bewith, it being understood that in the prac tice of the invention different burners embodying the principle above set forth can be different formers or supports for the glassware can be substituted according to the shape and character of the same.

i The apparatus illustrated has the machine base 1, which supports the longitudinal beams'2, 3, forming the main portion of the frame of the machine, these longitudinal 5 beamsbeing carried" on the cross beams 4 4, resting on the base 1-. Between each difi erent stand'I provide uprights 5, 6, illustrated as formed-of T-iron an supporting at the top the horizontal beam 7, these .parts form- 7 ing the main frame of the machine. Carried 0n suitable upri hts 8 leading up from said top beam 7 are t e means for supplying gas and air to support combustion. For purpose I emp oy the longitudinal air supair under pressure and avmg extending own "foreach burner a down-take pi e 10 which passes through the lien supported therein and carrymg the burner 11, and the gas supply ne and has branch pipes 13 extending therefrom to the pipe 10, the supply of air and s being regulated by valves 14' and .15. irectly under the burners 11 is the blank through the. feeding casting 17 and carries at its up er end a center pin or nipple 18 upon. WhlGh the blank support or former 19 rests, This shaft 16' as illustrated in the different figures, carries at its lower end a worm wheel 20 M21 engaging with a worm 22 or 23,

in relative size .to each other to provide for rotating theblanks at different speeds. as

illustrated in Figs. 2' and 3. Theshafts 16 are vertically movable, and meansare provided for raising the same to bring their worm wheels into engagement with their respective worms, the worms being carried upon the 'worm shaft '24 driven by asuitable motor such as the electric motor 25 which connects by beltfifi withthe worm shaft.

. 1 Suitable means for raising and lowerin the shaft 16 are provided, that illustra being suitable. lever mechanism operated by ,foot treadles, the main lever 27 being mount- .ed on brackets'supported on the longitudinal h .2 wh m s .by2 nk the lever .31, the, end of which ipe so supports'the shaft 16 in a suitable seat, the levers 27 and 31 carrying the weights 32, 33, which act when the levers are free to raise the shaft 16 into operative position, raising the worm wheels into contact with their respective worms so as to cause the rotation of the blanks carried on the shafts 16 as hereafter described, the worms in this way forming stops for the upward movement of the shafts as the worm wheels have flaring faces as illustrated. The lever 27 has the foot treadle 34 through the operation of which the shaft 16 is lowered, and pivoted on said lever 27 is the tri ping arm 35 which passes through a ui e-way 36 secured to the front longitu inal beam2, said tripping lever having the notched upper end 37 which catches under the beam when the main treadle 34 is depressed so as to lower the work out of the burner and hold it in that position. The tripping lever is so pivoted that it drops of its own weight under the beam 2, and it has the treadle 38 by which it may be withdrawn and permit the weights 32 and 33 on the levers 27 and 31 to lift the shaft 16 and raise the blank into fire polishing position. The burner is preferably located within a suitable inclosed chamber during the fire polishing operation, and for this purpose the back Wall 39 is formed of sheet metal fitting between the uprights 6 and a like front wall 40- extends downwardly from the top beam 7 part-way toward the feeding stand 17, a suitable chimney or hot air shaft 41 leading from the chamber so formed.

In front of each burner I provide the sliding door or shield 42 which slides between the uprights 5 during the fire polishing operation and protect the workman and prevent the apparatus being affected b currents of air within the plant. This shield is raised by means of a rope 43 passing around suitable sheaves 44, .and connected to the lever 31 so that when the inner end of that lever is raised to lift the blank up into fire polishing position, the shield 42 will be dropped into lowered position inclosing the work support 17 and closing the fire polishing chamber 48. Upon the-depression of the lever 31 and the dropping of the blank supporting shaft 16, the shield is raised to provide space for withdrawing and feeding in theblanks.

Any suitable form of blank support may be employed according to the character of the article to be fire polished; For the practical urpose of fire polishin bowls I em ploy or each bowl two blan holders, one conformin substantially to the inner shape of the article, as shown more particularly in Fig. 3, and one conforming substantially to the outer shape thereof, as shown in Fig. 5. Theseblank holders can be of any desired shape conforming to the blanks and so as to inclose the work for that purpose I have illustrated in Fig. 1 in connection with some of the separate sets of fire polishing apparatus, fiat burners 45 for fire polishing and blank holders 46 and 47 for the support of that class of articles.

The blank holders can be handled in any suitable way, the preferred form of blank holder being more particularly illustrated in Fig. 2, each blank holder having a center recess or seat 52 to fit over the centering pin 18 on the blank holding shaft 16 and having in its center stem 53 an annular depression 54 into which the forked end 55 of the carrier bar 56 fits, and by which the workman carries the blank holder and inserts it in the machine and withdraws it therefrom. For that purpose the carrier bar slides along the guide way 56 of the feeding casting and brings the blank holder directly over the centering pin 18 and drops it onto the pin 18.

Any suitable burner may be employed according to the character of work to be polished. The burners all involve the principle of fire polishing by the use of multitudinous flame jets projected against the surface of the article to be polished at approximately right angles to such surface, the burners conforming substantially to the article to obtain an even fire 'polishing action over such surface. For example, the burner of Fig. 4 is suitable for fire polishing the outer face of a bowl. -The pipe 10 leads down into the mixing chamber 60 which as illustrated is of an inverted dome shape, giving free space 61 for the mixing of the gas and air, and receives the desired form of burner, the burner proper 11 being secured thereto by means of set screws 62. The mixing chamber 60 has a circular lower edge against which the burner fits and the burner has a jet face 63 corresponding substantially to the shape of the article to be polished. It is illustrated as a hollow concave burner having a multitude-of jet orifices64 formed in its face and extending down close to the lower edge thereof, the orifices being illustrated as circular holes extending t rough the jet face so as to project the jets of gas on lines substantially transverse to the face of the burner, practically innumerable flame jets being ,thus projected against the blank on lines about transverse to the face thereof, and so giving a uniform distribution of flame over the entire surface of the article to be polished.

In polishing the outer face of the bowl the bowl is raised so as to be entirely inclosed within the concave burner and is held in such position that the jet flames strike directly upon it all over its surface, so giving an even fire polishing action over the entire outer surface of the bowl.

The blank holder 19 fits within the blank the flame jets strike directly on the blank and so give uniform fire polishing action. In polishing such bowls it is desirable to obtain as great heat as possible around the edge of the bowl and for that purpose, as illustrated in Fi 4, the blank pro ects below the lower e ge 65 of the b ank holder so exposing such lower ed e to the action of the flame. As, however, t e flame naturally rises as it escapes from the hollow burner and it is important that the lower edge 66 of the bowl shall be raised to specially high heat to melt-therefrom the s uare edges or fin-marks on the edge of the owl, I prefer to employ a separate burner 71 made as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, as of about a half a ring, said burner being supported around the back edge of the main burner 11 and having jet orifices on its inner face so as'to project the flame against the ex- "posed edge 69 of the blank and melt suchedge sufliciently to at least remove the fin, and if necessary melt off the square ed thereof. 'For this purpose I carry from c trolled by the valve 77.

air main 9 the branch pipe 74 leadin down to the lower part of the apparatus an carry from the gas 'main 12 the pipe 7 5 communieating with said air pipe which forms amixing chamber, from the lower end of.

which the pipe 76 leads upwardly to the edge finishing burner 71, the supply 'of gas and air through said pipe 76 bemg con- In the practice of the invention. where it'is employed in connection with the fire polishing of bowls, as the bowl is pressed m a suitable mold-the glass is liable to show any im erfections present on the surface of the mo d, and the edges of, the bowl are necessarily pressed practically square or at least at an angle, while fins are formed at the meeting points of the mold. The presed article while still sufiicie'ntly hot is placed upon a suitable former such as the ormer19, the former in the preferred practice'being slightly shallowerthan theblank so that the. edge portion thereof projects somewhat below the former. The former is carried on a suitable carrier bar and is fedto the polishing machine, the former being centered upon the lifting shaft 16 -and raised by the same into the burner 11.

7 As above stated gas and air under pressure are mixed in the mixing chamber of the burner and projected through .the multitudinous perforations or slits formed therein and is ignited'on the exterior surface of the jet face of the burner. In this way a conraised so as to be entirely covered or inclosed within a hollow burner which projects below the edge of the blank. These jet flames project downwardlyand inwardly directly against the curved body, of the bowl and play over the surface thereof in a practically continuous flame, evenly distributed over the entire surface so that the surface is evenly re-melted or fire polished and all imperfections on the outer surface of the bowl are thus re-melted or smoothed down, producing a uniformly polished surface thereon. In so doing the ornamentation of the bowl is maintained, the flame being so dis tributed over the surface that while the surface is thus re-melted, such an even re-heating is obtained as will not melt away and destroy such ornamentation unless the same is over-exposed. In this step in the fire polishing, as the edge of the blank projects be low its supporting former such edge is exposed to the heat and flame more fully than the body of the blank and the flame can be projected by any suitable means against such'edge, such for example as shownin Fig. 4, where the lower portion of the former has an inwardly projecting edge portion 67 below the jet facethereof, which throws the flame against such edge portion. As, however, the flame from such hollow burner naturally rises and escapes therefrom, in order to insure the 're-meltingof the edge portion so as to melt off the actual angular edge thereof and give it a rounded effect and remove all fins, I prefer to employ the supple mental burner 71 which, as'illustrated, extends around for a good portion of the edge of the blank and projects the flamedirectly upon, such edge portion, which as it is exposed as above described will by such extra heating be melted off so as to produce a slightly rounded and properly finished edge. In this operation it is preferredto rotate the blank slowly such as by the use of a relatively small worm and large worm wheel, as above described. As soon as the outer face of the article is thus properly fire polished it sired in the finished article, and by means of the carrier bar is placed below another fire polishing burner to polish the interior thereof as shown in Fig. 5. The burner in this case is made of smaller size than the bowl and otherwise corresponds substantially in shape to it, and as the bowl is raisednp to the burner the burner enters within the same and the air and gas mixed within the burner are projected through like multitudinous jet orifices in the jet face of the burner and ignite on the exterior surface of said jet face and the multitudinous flame jets are projected against the interior of the bowl, when it is held usually at a distance of about two inches from the jet face, and in so doing the interior of the bowl is re-heated and fire polished as above described. In this operation as the flame escapes from between the burner and the blank support it naturally plays over the inner edge portion of the blank :1. large body of flame and heat being projected against such edge portion and melting the surface, removing the fin and giving a slightly rounded edge to the same, so finishing the interior edge thereof. The supporting'blank holder or former is in this case made to conform .tothe curve or contour desired in the finished blank; for example if it is desired to widen the mouth of the bowl in this operation the support therefor may be slightly larger than the portion of the blank Where it is desired to widen the same and during such fire polishing of the interior the blank is rotated at a higher speed than in fire polishing the exterior thereof, being rotated at a sufficient speed to spread the body of the blank by centrifugal action against the hollow support and so bring it to the desired finished shape. \Vhen such fire polishing action is completed the-bowl is lowered and withdrawn with its support .and

the finished article removed therefrom.

The operation in connection with the finishing of substantially flat articles having upwardly projecting rims, is substantially the same as above described. In fthlS case the burner may either conform in shape to the blank, this'being desirable where the rim of the blank extends up to some height as illustrated in Fig. 6. Where, however, the rim portion is not of any great height I may employ a flat burner 81 as illustrated in Fig. 7, and for such purpose I have found, for example, that a very efiicient burner'is formed by the use of an asbestos cloth stretched over the base of the burner, such cloth providing the multitudinous small orifices for the escape of the mixed gas and air and giving very evenly distributed flame jets to operate upon the blank. In the fire polishing of such articles I find it advantageousto fire polish first theinterior of the blank and if it is desired'to' flare the rim portion, to rotate the blank at a suflicient speedto throw out the edge thereof by centrifugal force, this action bringing the edge incontact with the outer lip portion of the holder as illustrated in Fig. 6 at 82. As,

however, such outer lip portion 83 'of the support 84 may flare outwardly and the rim portion 85 of the article may not be pressed firmly against the same, I provide the interior support or former 86 of exact shape corresponding to the desired interior of the finished article, and in this case I place the article upon the support with a partially flaring rim support 87 and expose the exterior of the same to the heat of the jet flame ,around the edge faces of the same, so producing a practically perfectly fire polished article. The .invention can also be employed with square or oblong, or other angular shaped articles, in which case where the articles are of considerable depth the burners are made to conform to the angular shape ofthe same and extend down over the sides thereof for exterior polishing and enter within the same for interior polishing as shown in F i s. 8 and- 9, the burners having the multitudinous flame jet perforations or slots soas to give an even distribution of theflame over the surface thereof and provide for the even heatin of. the surface of the blanks in practical y the way above described, though in this case the articles are not rotated.

What I claim is:

1. The method of polishing the outer surface of bowls or like glass articles,- consisting in supporting the article within a hollow burner and rojecting from the hollow burner multitu inous flame jets distributed substantially evenly over the surface of the article to be fire polished.

2. The method of pollshing the outer sur-' face of bowls or like glass articles, consisting in supporting the article within a hollow burner which extends below the edge of the article and projecting from the hollow burner multitudinous flame jets distributed substantially evenly over the surface of the article to be fire polished. g

' 3. The method of fire polishing glass articles, consisting in supporting the article upon a former conforming substantially to the shape thereof but'with the edge of the article projecting beyond the former, subjecting the surface of the article to be polished to. the action of multitudinous flame jets distributed over the surfacethereof while supporting the article close to the surface of the burner and projecting the escaping flame against the exposed edge of the article.

4. The method of fire polishing glass articles, consisting in. supporting the article upon a former conforming substantially to.

while supporting the article close to the such exposed edge of the article.

' 5. The method of polishing glass articles, consisting in supporting the article upon a former conforming to t e shape of one surface thereof, fire polishing that surface and then supporting the article upon a former conforming substantially to the opposite facethereof, fire'polishing that surface, and rotating the article at different speeds for the first fire polishing operation and the second fire polishing operation respectively.

6. The method of fire polishing glass bowls and the like, consisting in supporting the article upon a former conforming sub? stantially to the interior thereof, fire polishing the exterior while rotating the article at a relatively slow speed and then supporting the article within a former conforming to the desired outline of the finished article and fire polishing the interior thereof while rotating the artlcle at a relatively high speed.

7. The method herein described of fire polishing glass articles, consisting in supporting the blank upon a former conforming substantially to the shape of one face thereof and close to a burner conforming substantially to the article and providing multitudinous flame jets distributed over the surface thereof, and then supporting the article upon a support conforming to the onnosite face of the finished article and subje'cting the unpolished surface to the action of multitudinous small flame jets projected a'short distance against the surface thereof.

8. The method of fire polishing glass bowls and the like, consisting in supporting the article upon a former conformmg substantially to the interior thereof and inclosing it within a hollow burner and subjecting it to the action of multitudinous jet flames projected a short distance against the surface thereof and distributed over said surface, and then supporting the article" upon a former conforming to the exterior thereof and entering the burner Within the article and projecting therefrom multitudinous small jet flames against the interior surface of the same.

In testimony whereof, "I the said ANDREW J. SANFORD have hereunto set my hand. ANDREW J. SANFORD. \Vitnesses:

E. J. MORATH, J. E. SNELLING. 

